NIVA Letter To Yelp

Written By Jason Gierl

August 28, 2024

Mr. Jeremy Stoppelman
Chief Executive Officer
Yelp, Inc.
140 New Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94105


Dear Mr. Stoppelman:

On behalf of the nation’s independent venues, festivals, and promoters, I urge you to stop empowering predatory ticket resellers from deceiving Yelp users. Your site redirects users from purchasing legitimate tickets at face value from small businesses and nonprofits, instead sending them to a Yelp-branded TicketNetwork website that is price gouging and selling fake tickets. These deceptive practices are to consumers’, artists’ and concert venues’ detriment, but we know you can stop these practices. While our outreach has gone unanswered, we stand ready to dialogue to fix it.

NIVA is part of a national coalition working to end this type of wide-spread consumer abuse.

Hundreds of venues, festivals, and promoters nationwide have recently discovered that Yelp is placing buttons on their Yelp profiles that deceive consumers into believing they are buying tickets directly from the venue or promoter producing the show. However, those links actually redirect consumers to a Yelp-branded ticketing platform operated by a company with a long history of anti-competitive and predatory practices. They are selling resale “tickets”on Yelp that, in many cases, do not actually exist or are marked up two to four times the price of face value tickets that are often still available from the venue.

National, widespread instances on Yelp of predatory and fraudulent practices include:

  • the sale of “tickets” for shows that do not exist or are being sold for the wrong date and/or

    wrong time; [Exhibits 1 & 2]

  • the sale of “tickets” for seated shows that do not specify the section or exact seat the ticket

    grants them access to; [Exhibit 3]

  • the sale of “tickets” that are speculative, not in the possession of the reseller, or fake; [Exhibit

    4]

  • the sale of tickets for shows that are regularly 2-15 times the face value of tickets still

    available directly from the venue/promoter ticketing platform organizing the show. [Exhibit 5]

    Furthermore, the lack of accurate listings - or any listings at all - on a number of Yelp’s predatory resale ticketing pages for venues is likely causing fans to miss out on shows. Yelp and TicketNetwork are deceiving fans into believing that the “tickets” they are selling include a comprehensive listing of all shows the venue or promoter is hosting. The widespread price gouging is misleading the public into thinking ticket prices are much higher than what independent stages actually charge, potentially discouraging them from buying tickets and harming our sales.

It is also troubling that Yelp is partnering with a company, TicketNetwork, to profit off fake tickets and price gouging when that company has been:

  • sued and/or investigated by the Attorneys General of Arkansas1, Connecticut2, New Jersey3, and New York4;

  • forced to reach a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission due to their fraudulent practices5;

  • fined $825,000 by Competition Bureau Canada for fraudulent practices and deceptive search engine advertising and required to enter a consent decree with the Canadian government to continue operating67; and

  • sued for firing executives that legally cooperate with state and local investigations.8

    In light of the deeply concerning practices detailed above, we implore Yelp to take immediate corrective action to protect consumers, uphold the integrity of independent stages, and maintain the trust of the millions of users who rely on Yelp for accurate and honest information. Every day these deceptive practices continue, the fabric of our communities is eroded, and the unique cultural experiences that independent stages provide are jeopardized.

    We call on your company to immediately remove all “ticket” links to Yelp’s and TicketNetwork’s predatory resale sites from the Yelp profiles of independent venues, festivals, and promoters. By doing so, you will not only restore the confidence of your users and shareholders, but also demonstrate Yelp’s commitment to ethical business practices and the well-being of the communities you serve. We also encourage you to urge Congress to pass the Fans First Act to ensure the deceptive ticket resale practices that are currently rampant across the country are made illegal.

    We trust that Yelp will take this opportunity to do what is right and necessary. Sincerely,

Stephen Parker

Executive Director
National Independent
Venue Association

 
 
Jason Gierl
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